


Nap Magic

by thehiddengrace



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band), Kis-My-Ft2 (Band)
Genre: Gen, JE is a mess, Kitayama is magic but Kame is an emotional disaster, backstage shenanigans, naps, this is based on personalities from 6 years ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 04:38:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17522129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehiddengrace/pseuds/thehiddengrace
Summary: Part of JE is ignoring all the horrible things happening to other groups and hoping it doesn't happen to your group, and the rest is reaching out when you probably shouldn't.Kitayama and Kame take a nap before Countdown.





	Nap Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I haven't written fic in JE fandom since 2012.
> 
> I told a friend I was thinking of joining a JE fic exchange out of nostalga, and she quickly reminded me I haven't kept up with JE for six years and what if I request older groups and get someone I've never written, "like kame or kitayama." At least I was familiar with her example.

"Hey, are you awake?"

Kitayama thinks about not responding, just laying there playing dead, tucked in his hidden corner of some forgotten manager's office, but it doesn't sound like Fujigaya throwing a fit and needing help calming down (which is what usually wakes him up) so he cracks a cautious eye open. 

It's Nakamaru-kun, which definitely isn't who Kitayama was expecting.

"What?"

"How long do you think you'll be here? When's Kisumai due back out?"

"After the sempai do their medley, I think." He's not really sure, but Yokoo will probably come get him in time or they'll send some toddling Junior after him. Either way, he's not too concerned.

"Oh, great. And you have a lot of experience with diva members, don't you?"

"Uh."

"This is perfect. Thanks, Kitayama-kun." And Nakamaru-kun twirls away.

Okay, so that was weird, but honestly, it's not the weirdest thing Nakamaru-kun has interrupted a nap for, so he just slides his eyes back shut and waits for whatever impeding distruction will surely follow.

He doesn't have to wait long before he hears actual shrieking in the hallway, and he knows that it can't be random; he's far enough away from the regular commotion of 80 idols practicing that someone has to actively be on their way towards him. He sighs and thinks about pushing up and relocating before his crazy sempai get back to him, but he doesn't have time before Nakamaru-kun throws the door back open and Ueda-kun trails in after him, looking particularly smug, Kamenashi-kun thrown over his shoulder like a half empty sack of rice.

"Um. What exactly's going on?"

"Kame-chan's grumpy, and is probably going to break his brain if he stresses anymore. He needs to take a nap before we kill him," Ueda-kun says blithely. 

"I do _not_ need a nap. I need my members to concentrate for once. This is ser..." Kamenashi-kun is abruptly cut short when Ueda dumps him unceremoniously on top of Kitayama.

"Take care of him for us, please, Kitayama-kun," Nakamaru smiles as Kamenashi-kun scrambles to sit upright.

Really, if Kitayama's got to pick someone in Johnnys to be afraid of, it would probably be Nakamaru-kun (he looks so unassuming and bland) and Ueda-kun (who just menacingly cracked his knuckles) so he doesn't even think about it when he wraps his arm around a squirming Kamenashi-kun's waist and holds him still as Nakamaru-kun and Ueda-kun dash out and slam the door behind them.

"What did you do that for?" Kamenashi-kun spits as he finally breaks free and races to the door; it's locked. Kitayama is unsurprised. "Give me your phone."

"Why?" Kitayama yawns. "Who are you going to call to come let you out? You know all the Juniors have been tiptoeing around KAT-TUN's rehearsal room for weeks now, and the sempai are busy."

"Give. Me. Your. Phone," Kamenashi-kun carefully enciates, holding out his hand.

"Can't. Left it with Yokoo so no one would bother me. No idea how Nakamaru-kun even found me."

Kamenashi scoffs. "So we're just going to sit here until Ueda thinks I've been in timeout long enough?"

"No. We're going to lay here and nap until Yokoo comes to get us for the final run-through."

"I don't have time for that."

"You don't have time for your face rupturing either, but it looks like that's going to happen any minute now, if how red your face just got is any indication."

Kamenashi-kun looks like he's going to scream, but in the end just slides down the door into crumpled heap. Maybe he whimpers a time or two, Kitayama can't really tell.

Kitayama used to be closer to KAT-TUN, well as close as two rival groups could get when one of them was whisked away to fulfill all their dreams six years before the other group, and it used to easier to just settle into their atmosphere, back before they were fragmented into so many pieces. He can't really remember Kamenashi-kun doing this before, all the breakdowns he's been having the past year or so, but he's not really in a position to judge too harshly.

He doesn't know what it's like to have half of your group hate you so much that they jump ship at the height of their career.

And you never really know what's happening in other groups, even when it seems like their drama is unfolding right in the cafeteria in front of everyone. So maybe this is more than what it seems like, maybe this is more than Akanishi, and Tanaka, and Taguchi.

Kamenashi-kun takes a shuddering breath, and Kitayama's had it. This isn't the first time someone's dumped a member having a breakdown on him, it just feels bizarrely more intimate than it should, a bit closer to home.

He sits up and sighs loud. Part of JE is ignoring all the horrible things happening to other groups and hoping it doesn't happen to your group, and the rest is reaching out when you probably shouldn't.

"Look, just come over and take a nap. What do you think is going to happen if they come to let us out and you're sitting there still fuming? They're going to block this floor off and then we're both going to miss Countdown, and I don't think that's happened in as long as Countdown's _been_ happening. It's going to be career suicide. We don't want that, now do we?"

Kame-kun doesn't respond, so Kitayama heaves himself upright. He grabs Kame-kun's wrist and half-heartly yanks; it feels like he's grabbed a Junior, puberty thin and sulky. God, sempai groups falling apart is exhausting. "Come on. Come nap with me."

Eventually Kame-kun shivers and let's himself be pulled up; his face is glistening and swollen and red. Kitayama curses a bit under this breath. Nakamaru-kun is a deviant; group issues need to stay in group.

He guides Kame-kun back around the desk he's been hiding behind all afternoon and shoves him back down. Maybe he can keep him still this way.

"Did you sneak this tatami mat in here or did Sasaki-san have it already?" Kame-kun's voice is surprisingly even for someone crying as hard as he is. Kitayama's vaugely impressed Kame-kun knows whose office he's commandeered.

"I keep it in Kisumai's rehearsal room and move it around as needed. You never know when you're going to have to sneak away and not have a mat somewhere. Sleeping on hardwood is the worst."

"You could just stop sneaking away and stay in your room?"

"No way," Kitayama drops down by Kame-kun. "Trying to sleep with Kisumai around is like trying to sleep in Shibuya Crossing."

Kame-kun snorts. "It can't be worse than Maru beat boxing and Tat-chan trying to drown him out while screaming Juniors are being held captive by Julie-san next door."

"We did get a remote rehearsal room but the trade off was we have Fujigaya. You've known him forever. Has he ever shut up?"

"Not even once," Kame-kun says solemnly.

Kitayama chuckles, and when Kame-kun doesn't protest, scoots close and slides his arm around his waist. "Is this okay?" Because this is exactly what he does with Fujigaya when he's throwing fits and breaking down, exactly what he does with Senga's pent up emotions and Nika's sullen storms and Tamamori's insecurities. The Juniors have always said there's something magic about naps with Kitayama, and Kitayama has always known better than to say it's the nap itself that's the magic.

"I guess," Kame-kun whispers. "You won't let me practice or beat the door down, right?"

"Right." Kitayama relaxes further against Kame-kun. "Better get used to the silence."

He can feel Kame-kun's struggle with that, and he knows that KAT-TUN's a lot like the rest of Kisumai, where silence means trouble, and Kame-kun's always been at the center of that, doing his best to keep everyone together. He's always got to be demanding, pointed and sharp and in command, a step ahead of everyone else in the room. And doesn't that get tiring, never knowing how to stop?

JE is never ending, ceaseless, and it's easy to get swept up in the tide of a revolving door of Juniors, new pretty faces that don't have ten years of drama wrapped round their names who showed up talented and never had to fight for it. Maybe that's part of his problem, how what's left of his group doesn't seem to care as much, seems content to let their successful past carry them now. That's not enough for Kame-kun.

It wouldn't be enough for him, either, so he gets why Kame-kun's stretched himself so thin; he's always been lucky that he has Kisumai to carry him when he's weak.

"It's gonna be okay," Kitayama promises when Kame-kun's finally stopped crying.

"You don't know that."

Kitayama hums. "You've made this far."

Kame-kun doesn't have anything to say to that, just sighs and stills, heartbeat finally slowing against Kitayama's chest.

He doubts Kame-kun will actually nap, and is probably just biding his time, waiting for Kitayama to fall back asleep where he can fret in peace, but Kitayama can't control that. He can just offer his arm and his silence and hope for the best.

*

(In an hour or two, when Senga's been sent to fetch Kitayama, he has no idea what to make of Kitayama curled protectively around Kamenashi-kun. The last anyone had seen of Kamenashi-kun, he'd been screaming at an incredibly bored-looking Ueda-kun right on stage in front of god and everyone.

"Hey, wake up," he prods, and Kitayama reaches out and shoves his hand over Senga's mouth.

"I've been awake. We'll be out soon. Go on."

Senga dutifully leaves, but not before glancing back and watching Kitayama do his best not to startle Kamenashi-kun awake.

He knows they've never been close, but it looks like Kitayama's nap magic may have done him some good anyway.)


End file.
